Norbury trial for Jamal Andrews murder begins with opening remarks

In his opening statement Tuesday in the murder trial of Billy Norbury, Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster described for the jury the "nightmare" scenario where Norbury allegedly shot and killed his Redwood Valley neighbor, Jamal Andrews.

Norbury, 34, faces a murder charge with a special allegation that he used a gun to kill Andrews, 30, on the night of Jan. 24.

Eyster, who is prosecuting the case, said Andrews was home that night with his live-in girlfriend of nine years, Miranda Mills, and their 8-month old son when she heard the "distinctive" sound of the all-terrain vehicle (ATV) Norbury allegedly drove to their Road B home shortly after 9:30 p.m. that night.

"The first time (Mills) heard that sound was in September or October of 2011, at 2 o'clock in the morning," Eyster told the jury.

The first time Norbury appeared at the couple's home, he appeared "very disheveled."

During her tearful testimony later Tuesday, Mills said Norbury demanded repeatedly that Andrews come outside, and that he called Andrews "Jamar."

Mills testified that her boyfriend answered Norbury, saying, "I'm not coming outside, I don't know who you are, I don't have a problem with you, and my name's Jamal, not Jamar." Norbury, she said, "kept calling him Jamar and telling him to come out ... It was the same thing over and over and over again." She estimated that four or five minutes passed before Norbury left when she'd threatened to call police.

Mills described Norbury as looking "like a crackhead" during that visit. Asked to elaborate, she testified that he "looked very unstable" and "didn't look normal."

The second visit was near Thanksgiving, she testified, when Norbury "appeared sober (and) normal" and apologized for waking and scaring Andrews' family.

"Mr. Norbury said he was sorry (and that) he was drunk," she said.

Andrews accepted the apology, Mills testified.

"They shook hands, and then (Norbury) left," Mills said, through tears. During both of those visits, Mills said, Norbury came at night and drove what she identified -- by the sound of the engine, not by sight -- as an ATV.

She testified that she saw Norbury again while shopping in Redwood Valley at Little Bakers Market, where she saw him standing in the checkout line ahead of her, and Norbury turned around and smiled at her.

Norbury's Ukiah defense attorney, Al Kubanis, asked her during his cross-examination how Norbury had smiled at her.

"(It was) like a creepy, perverted smile," Mills said.

Kubanis asked her what was creepy about the smile.

"I was creeped out by him in general," she said, and, prompted again by Kubanis, she added, "It was very flirtatious; it wasn't a normal, Hi, how are you doing' smile."

Mills testified that she then took her infant son and went to the back of the store until Norbury left, having purchased what she described as a 12-pack of beer.

Mills also described Norbury's third and final visit to the home she shared with Andrews. She said she had just put her son to bed when she heard the ATV engine she associated with Norbury again.

"I said, Are you kidding me?'" Mills said. Andrews, who was shirtless on the living room couch, put on a hoodie and went outside, she said. Mills said she grabbed the phone, as she had on both of Norbury's previous visits, "because I was scared."

Andrews walked to the locked gate, out of the range of a motion-sensitive light on the driveway. Mills told the court that she heard Andrews say, "Are you serious?" The next thing she heard was a gunshot, she said.

Mills saw Andrews running toward the front door with a "worried and scared" look on his face, then heard another gunshot and saw a flash of light near the gate, and saw Andrews fall to the ground. She heard another shot as he fell, she testified.

Mills said she crouched behind the door "because I thought he (Norbury) was going to shoot at me," coming out when she heard the ATV drive away.

Four people at a home next door also took the stand Tuesday and testified that they heard one gunshot, a pause and two more.

Neighbor Stephanie Bartman testified that she came to Andrews' aid, holding blankets to a through-and-through gunshot wound on Andrews' right shoulder. She said Andrews also had a gunshot wound to his head, later described by Mendocino County Sheriff's Office deputy Robert Moore as a fatal wound.

Eyster also said during his opening remarks that Norbury told officers during his arrest that he had been home all night, then later admitted he had been at Taylor's Tavern. Eyster said he would show video of how Norbury's story "breaks down."

"What you're going to hear is, I wasn't there, and if I was, I'm insane.'"

Kubanis reserved his opening comments until later in the trial.

The trial is expected to last three weeks, and include a phase where the jury will decide the question of Norbury's sanity. Norbury in July changed his not-guilty plea to one of not guilty by reason of insanity (commonly called an NGI plea).

The trial continues Wednesday with Kubanis' cross-examination of Mills, to be followed by testimony from three sheriff's deputies who were at the scene the night of the shooting.

Tiffany Revelle can be reached at udjtr@pacific.net, on Twitter @TiffanyRevelle or at 468-3523.